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THE OFFICIAL SITE OF YOUR BURRILLVILLE BRONCOS
Burrillville Broncos High School Hockey
June Rockwell Levy Community Ice Rink
425 East Avenue Harrisville, RI 02830
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History
 
Photo courtesy of Kathy Wheater & www.OnFrozenPond.com
Thomas Eccleston Jr.

Burrillville is a town rich in hockey history. Thomas Eccleston Jr. formed the first Burrillville hockey team in 1938 and Walter "Dinky" Ballou led Burrillville to their first state championship title in 1944, while serving as interim coach.

Photo courtesy of Kathy Wheater & www.OnFrozenPond.com

Thomas Eccleston Jr. led the Broncos to six state championship titles between 1948 and 1956 before William "Babe" Mousseau took the reins in 1956. Coach Mousseau then led the Broncos to seven state championship titles and five New England titles before retiring in 1974.

Although the Broncos didn't win any state championship titles between 1974 and 1984, Burrillville remained "one of the teams to beat" and stayed competitive behind leaders such as coach Dudley, "Red" Rabitor, and Jim Murphy.

Thomas Eccleston Jr. returned in 1985 to coach Burrillville to four Met B1 state championship titles in five years before retiring for the last time in 1990. Michael Menard took over as head coach in 1990 and led the Broncos to another Met B state championship title in 1993.

Photo by Ron Schram
Shane McConnell

Burrillville decided to move back up to Met A after the 1993 season and Coach Menard would stay for one more year. In 1994, Gary Cahill became the new head coach and remained through the 1999-2000 season. Shane McConnell took the reins of the Broncos in 2000 with hopes of adding to Burrillville's past success.

Gary Rouleau
Gary Rouleau

In 2002 the RIIL launched the girls high school hockey inaugural season. Burrillville, coached by Gary Rouleau, was one of five teams to participate in the new girls league. Keeping with Bronco tradition, the girls found themselves battling for the State Championship. The girls finished a remarkable first season, taking second place, and look forward to many more successful seasons.

Before the start of the 2003-2004 season, the RIIL decided to realign the Boy's Championship and Met B divisions, moving St. Raphael and Burrillville to the Met B North Division. The Broncos won the Met B North Division and finished as Runners-Up to Moses Brown for the Met B State Championship.

In 2005, Burrillville return to championship status by winning the Boys Division II State Championship title under head coach Shane McConnell. This is the Broncos first State Championship title in 12 years.

Steve Daigle
Steve Daigle

As the 2007-2008 season rolled around Steve Daigle became the new head coach of the Broncos, inheriting the team and head coaching position from Shane McConnell. Coach Daigle is off to great start as the Broncos took home another championship, winning the 2008 Division 1A State Championship by over powering Barrington.

 

 

 


Past Championships
Year
Division
1944
Met A
1948
Met A
1949
Met A
1951
Met A
1952
Met A
1953
Met A
1955
Met A
1957
Met A
1958
Met A
1959
Met A
1962
Met A
1963
Met A
1971
Met A
1973
Met A
1986
Met B1
1988
Met B1
1989
Met B1
1990
Met B1
1993
Met B
2005
Division II
2008
Division 1A

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